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Reading: With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Erin Benevento, the Associate Dean for Student Development, is arguably one of the busiest staff members on McDaniel College's campus, and yet she is always eager and makes time to help library staff with projects, including reaching out to her local community connections to help promote the Human Library event and helping with finals week activities back when she was still working in the First Stop office. She always keeps the library in mind when designing new and improving existing orientation activities for the campus and particularly for first-year students, including a walk to downtown Westminster that features a prominent stop at the Carroll County Public Library and a book club for first-year students in collaboration with the Office of Student Engagement. She is eager to work with the library on new projects and incorporate Hoover into existing campus activities. Throughout her time on the Hill, she has worked with library staff in various capacities, including as Director of the First Year Experience and in her work to establish and grow My Place, My Design, and other elements of the McDaniel Plan. She also helped host a book club for first-year students last year with OSE.
In her poster, Erin reads With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo on the mid-level patio of the Roj Student Center, one of her favorite spots on campus.
Thank you, Erin, for your dedicated support of Hoover Library, and we can’t wait to collaborate with you more on future book-ish projects!
With the Fire on High by Reading: The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Daija Burroughs is an Environmental Science major graduating this year, and she has been a student employee at Hoover Library since Fall 2019. Daija excelled in her role at the Circulation Desk, becoming instrumental in the training of new hires. She is a role model to our first-year student employees, sharing advice not only on job-related tasks but on the challenges of working while going to college full-time. Daija has also been a reference assistant at Hoover Library for multiple years, helping answer research questions from all over the McDaniel community and beyond—an opportunity extended to our very best student employees. IN her final year here, she has been helping the Circulation Manager and other library staff with other projects, including the social media videos and Story takeover you hopefully saw shared on our accounts during this week! Daija consistently demonstrates her dedication to the library through her various positions, going above and beyond to assist students, faculty, and staff find what they need. She is patient, thorough, and reliable, and has “saved the day” many times over the years. In the words of one of her nominators, “she deserves every honor we can possibly give her.”
In Daija’s poster, she is reading The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates in front of the stone sculpture in the library courtyard.
Daija, I think I can safely speak for the rest of our staff in saying it has been an absolute pleasure working with you in the library. We’re so grateful for you and will miss you so much, but we know you will go on to do amazing things after graduation.
The Water Dancer by Reading: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
Robert Lemieux is an Associate Professor of Communication & Cinema and has been a long-time collaborator with the library on various projects. He has been an especially faithful and dedicated partner to the College Archives, including on his most recent exhibit, Icons of American Animation. This impressive exhibit spanned two venues, one at McDaniel College’s Rice Gallery and the other at the Carroll County Arts Council, and contained over 150 pieces of art from Mike and Jeanne Glad and the Glad Family Trust. Over thirty animation studios were represented, including big names like Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers. In the lead-up to the exhibit—which was made much longer than expected by the COVID-19 pandemic—Robert worked with College Archivist & Special Collections Librarian Gwen Coddington, to store and monitor all 150 plus pieces of precious artwork. For two years, these pieces waited in the safe, accessible environment of the Archives, during which time Gwen helped Robert prepare these pieces for display, including scanning them for the exhibit catalog and measuring them for frames. Throughout this project, Robert made an effort to highlight and promote the oftentimes invisible work of the archives in putting together an exhibit of this scale. Robert also promotes the value of the archives in his role as an associate professor, integrating visits to the archives and archival material into his communication and cinema courses.
Robert’s poster features him in the heart of the Archives vault, reading Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud.
Thank you, Robert, for your longtime partnership and especially for promoting the value of Hoover Library’s resources, especially the college archives, to so many others.
Understanding Comics by Reading: Immigrant Voices: Contemporary Perspectives on Finding the American Dream, volume 2 edited by Gordon Hutner
Although she has not been on the Hill very long, Lupe Mondragon quickly has made Hoover Library her home. Lupe, a biology major set to graduate in 2024, is a constant, dependable figure in the library building, studying diligently at the tables outside the librarians’ offices before, in between, and after classes. A well self-disciplined early riser, Lupe spends her weekdays either in class or in the library from the time it opens to until the late afternoon to early evening so she can take time in the evenings to relax and rest. Most, if not all, of our librarians have encountered her in “her” spot with her library and class materials, and have stories of interacting with her, chatting about her classes, her experiences as a transfer student, and much more.
In Lupe’s poster, she stands where else but in the library in front of our beautiful stained glass representation of the liberal arts. She is reading Immigrant Voices: Contemporary Perspectives on Finding the American Dream, volume 2 edited by Gordon Hutner.
We love seeing Lupe using the library’s space and resources so diligently and regularly, and we’re glad she’s not set to graduate until 2024 so we can continue to see her around for a couple more years!
Immigrant Voices, Volume 2 by Reading: A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars by Andrew Hartman
Raquel Sobczak is a history and religious studies major graduating this spring. She is incredibly active on the Hill, including as a Writing Center tutor, CEO Ambassador, and president of the Honors Program. Her extensive connections all over campus mean she has all kinds of ways to share her passion for student success, including promoting Hoover Library’s resources and services. She frequently encourages other students to take advantage of everything the library has to offer, and she takes advantage of them herself, including the 10 items she has requested through our InterLibrary Loan service just this year. She also utilizes the expertise of librarians for her research projects, meeting with them for one-on-one consultations and then referring other students to the librarians and this particular service.
In Raquel’s READ poster, she is reading A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars by Andrew Hartman inside the Hill’s iconic gazebo.
Raquel is such an exemplary example of how McDaniel students can get the most out of their college experience by utilizing the library’s resources and then helping other students do the same. Thank you, Raquel, and we wish you all the best post-graduation!
A War for the Soul of America, Second Edition by Reading: Pride and Prejudice: An Annotated Edition by Jane Austen, edited by Patricia Meyer Spacks
On top of being a voracious reader who uses the library regularly herself, April Tuggle is the Human Resource office’s biggest promoter of the library’s services and resources in her role as HR’s Generalist and Graduate & Professional Studies Liaison. In meeting with future and new employees, April highlights the library’s offerings, such as our InterLibrary Loan service as one of the benefits of being a McDaniel employee. She also encourages her colleagues to take advantage of the library’s resources and services and has partnered with Hoover Library on several past projects, including the employee benefits fair HR hosts in the library. In the words of her nominator, “our employees enter into McDaniel College viewing the library and its resources as a benefit, and that is in no small part due to April’s efforts.” And we really cannot put it any more eloquently than that!
In April’s READ poster, she is reading an annotated edition of one of her favorite novels, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, edited by Patricia Meyer Spacks. She is standing in front of one of the trees near the library courtyard full of gorgeous spring blooms.
Thank you, April, for being one of the first points of contact to faculty and staff in promoting Hoover Library and its resources and services!
Pride and Prejudice by Reading: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman
Michelle Young, Senior Lecturer of Social Work, is another honoree who has been a longtime user, supporter, and promoter of Hoover Library. In every level of classes she teaches, she finds ways to encourage and direct students to library resources. appreciates the value of our librarians’ expertise in research and encourages or sometimes even requires her first-year students to meet with a librarian one-on-one to solidify further the lessons and skills they learned in their information literacy sessions. She also recommends the service to any student who seems like they’re struggling with research. She has been the Social Work department’s liaison to the library for several years, helping select materials for the library to purchase that best support the department’s curriculum and attending library liaison meetings every semester. Michelle has collaborated directly with the library on projects, such as a book display for National Social Work month in March 2020. Lastly, she is always looking out for programming and events hosted by the library, like the Long Night Against Procrastination, so she can promote them to her students in class.
In Michelle’s poster, she sits in the library courtyard with the football stadium visible in the back, reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Cultures by Anne Fadiman.
We are beyond grateful to have faculty who are engaged and eager to work with us and serve as a voice for the library in the classroom, so thank you, Michelle, for all the things, big and small, that you do to support Hoover Library!
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by 
